Heart Mask
by Envy May
Summary: Name subject to change; novelisation of "Majora's Mask" with a twist! More details to come?
1. Found and Lost

**_DISCLAIMER: All properties upon which this story is based are owned by Nintendo. I own nothing._  
**

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 **FOUND AND LOST**

 **Nobody** knows where it originated from.

It is an artefact of chaos, shaped like a heart with spikes lining its edges. It is an object of immense power, once used by an ancient tribe in their obscure hexing rituals. It is an item of evil that, if in the wrong hands, could plunge everything into eternal desolation. It is known as Majora's Mask.

 _He_ brushed the uneven surface of the mask with his thumbs, staring into its forest green irises with a cheerful and somewhat carefree satisfaction. The glowing orange eyes stared back at him, unblinking and emotionless. It was only a mask, after all. Masks were not living creatures.

Whistling casually, he placed the mask inside a large pack which was already filled with other various masks that he had gathered in his travels. Slinging the pack over his shoulder, he began to head back to his shop in the marketplace.

He did not plan to sell his new mask. He had gone to great lengths to acquire the ancient artefact, after all, and he knew that the owner of such a dark item would be surrounded by misfortune for as long as it was in his or her possession. He was very sure, of course, that he was immune himself, but it would be rather unethical to sell an object of chaos like Majora's Mask to a paying customer. No, it would be impossible to convince him to part with it.

As he hobbled home, supporting the weight of both himself and the pack with a thin wooden cane, he was tapped on the shoulder by a pale woman with a book under her arm.

'Excuse me, mister,' she said, adjusting her glasses in a businesslike manner, 'I'm gonna have to ask you to hand over that mask you just picked up, 'kay?'

* * *

The Princess of Hyrule's nursemaid frowned at the green-clad young boy in disdain, although there was a hint of a playful smile only recognisable to one who knew her. The boy – a friend of the princess – had just managed to sneak past the royal palace's security with troubling ease.

'That was fast,' commented the nursemaid.

'Oh, come on, Impa!' pleaded the boy. 'Please let me through!'

'What's the pony for?' asked Impa, crossing her arms. 'And how on _earth_ did you get it past the guards?'

'Epona's only here because I'm leaving soon,' said the boy. 'Now, please! I want to see her before I go!'

The nursemaid was blocking the entrance to the garden. It was the place Hyrule's princess spent most of her time, whether studying, reading or playing.

'I can't simply grant you an audience with the princess if you don't give me a good reason to,' she said to the boy.

'I don't want "an audience with the princess",' said the boy, 'I want to see my friend!'

Impa sighed, then stepped away from the entrance to let the boy pass. 'You can see her, but you have to remember that she's the princess of this land as well as your friend, not just one or the other. You could at least _attempt_ to show some respect for once.'

The boy ignored her and walked right by, leading his pony with one hand.

The princess stood atop a small platform, facing the window through which the throne room could be seen.

'Zelda!'

The princess was not in the least bit surprised to hear her friend's voice, having listened to his short conversation with Impa.

'You're leaving soon, Link?'

The boy released his pony's reigns and took a few steps towards the young princess. 'Yeah.'

Princess Zelda turned to face her friend, clutching a polished and ornate blue instrument in her hands. The boy frowned curiously at the instrument.

'Is that …'

'The Ocarina of Time, yes,' finished the princess. 'I had a feeling you might leave in search of your lost fairy, so I decided I'd lend it to you as a going-away gift. You know, for good luck!'

'But … I can't,' protested the boy.

The princess took one of the young boy's hands and placed the ocarina gently on his palm, folding his fingers around it.

'Listen,' said Zelda quietly, 'if you have this, there's no way for Ganondorf to open the Gate of Time, which I'm sure he'll attempt to do once he finds out we're aware of his evil intentions. Trust me, it's safer with you.'

Link gulped. 'But … it's such a precious artefact for someone like me to carry around …'

'Oh, don't worry, you'll give it back later!' assured the princess. 'Besides, as long as you have this, the Goddess of Time will watch over you and aid you in your quest. Surely, you'll have better luck finding your friend this way!'

'Th-thank you,' said the boy sincerely. 'I promise I'll take good care of it!'

'Farewell, Link! Good luck!'

'Bye, Zelda!'

For the first nine years of his life, Link had believed himself to be an immortal child of the forest, created by the Deku Tree as a member of the hidden tribe known as the Kokiri. However, there was always a single thing he had lacked: a fairy partner.

Each member of the Kokiri had a guardian fairy assigned to them by the Deku Tree, and Link had always considered himself to be the unfortunate exception to this tradition. The day Navi had come to him and announced she would be his companion from then on had felt like a weight off his shoulders; as if it would finally allow him to be accepted as a true Kokiri.

Alas, the young boy was never meant to be one. He was, in fact, Hylian by birth; an ordinary mortal, brought to the forest to take refuge from the civil war that was taking place in the main kingdom. Despite this apparent insignificance, however, the boy soon found greatness as the legendary Hero of Time when he travelled seven years into the future to save the land from an immense evil.

At the end of his long adventure, he was sent back in time to relive his lost childhood, and he and Navi had parted ways – the fairy's task was over – and they had had no subsequent meetings since.

Link was not willing to believe that he was never to see the fairy again. Thus, he packed his things and rode off into the woods in search of her, determined to find her and speak to her one last time.

The young filly upon which the boy rode went by the name of Epona. She was a trustworthy horse and the only horse Link was ever willing to ride. It just so happened that _Link_ was the only one _Epona_ was ever willing to allow on her saddle as well, so they made the perfect team.

It was unfortunate, then, that they were about to be separated.

Dried leaves and twigs crunched under Epona's hooves as she plodded along the soft forest floor. She was starting to feel the effect of a full days' walk, and so was Link, even though he had been seated on her back for the duration of the journey. In fact, the boy was beginning to nod off, and would have fallen asleep if not for the sound that next graced his ears.

It was the tinkling of fairy wings.

Link immediately snapped to his senses and jerked his head around in various directions, surveying every inch of the forest with newfound vigour, but poor Epona was caught off-guard by the motion, causing her to rear violently, throwing Link tumbling off her back and onto the dirty ground.

The world spun around in dizzy circles before the young boy's eyes, darkness seeping in from all corners of his vision. Link planted his hands firmly in the soil beneath him in an attempt to push himself to his feet, but he found, to his dismay, that his body had suddenly gained so much weight that his little arms could not support him on their own. The ground was getting closer and closer to Link's face. His whole body fell in slow motion until he found himself passing through what should have been solid ground, sinking into an inescapable abyss with no bottom in sight.

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 _ **A/N: What's this? A novelisation of**_ **Majora's Mask** _ **? But actually, it's more than that. What could the twist be?**_


	2. Ticking

_**DISCLAIMER: All properties upon which this story is based are owned by Nintendo. I own nothing.**_

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 **TICKING**

 **Link** had a splitting headache.

 _Stiff_ was one of the countless words that could be used to describe the way the young boy's body felt at that moment. _Sore_ was another, along with _tired_ , _numb_ and … somehow _different_.

Come to think of it, Link felt smaller. Stubbier. His head, which was still throbbing horribly, now felt too heavy to be adequately supported by the rest of his aching form, as if it had suddenly grown bigger. Bulkier. And somewhat unbalanced, too.

The young boy placed his trembling palms flat on the ground – which he now noticed felt significantly harder than the forest floor – and attempted to hoist himself to his feet. He failed at first, but after a few tries he finally managed to bring himself into a sitting position.

Not yet willing to undertake the arduous task of opening his eyes, the boy opted instead to listen to his surroundings first. To his surprise, he heard some rather distinct noises, none of which matched the setting he believed himself to be in; trickling water, turning gears and a persistent ticking that, although distant, was definitely there.

His eyes still closed, Link struggled to recollect everything that had happened up to that point. The last clear memory he had was of Epona throwing him off her back, and anything he tried to remember after that was a blur. He vaguely recalled something related to Dekus (a race of small wooden creatures of the forest) and an agonising rustling sound he was unable to escape, no matter how forceful his attempts to block out the sound with his hands were.

The memory of the rustling began to cloud his mind, growing stronger in his head with every ounce of thought he put into it. Mere thoughts of the din seemed to crumble his sanity, grinding his brain into a mess of crippling panic. The relentless crunching noise pushed against the inside of his skull, trying to force its way out. The boy's lungs constricted. A wave of nausea swept over him, threatening to send him back into unconsciousness. He felt himself freezing, yet sweat dripped from his pulsating forehead. Bony hands seized his heart with an icy grasp, pulling him downwards …

Link's eyes flew open and the rustling dissipated, suddenly no more than a distant memory. He put a hand to his forehead; his skin felt abnormally dry, even though he was sure he was sweating a moment ago. It was as if he was supposed to be sweating, yet he was somehow unable to.

Now that his eyes were open, Link surveyed his surroundings and was a little more than surprised to find himself locked in a cell of some sort. His sword and shield lay on a table beyond the bars of the cell, but Epona was nowhere to be seen. When he rotated his head, he discovered a mirror hung on the wall behind him, but it was positioned a little too high for him to see more than the hair of his reflection.

Feeling somewhat less disoriented than he did a few moments ago, he made to stand up and see how horrid he looked in comparison to the way he felt. He expected bruises, he expected bags under his eyes, but nothing in the world could have prepared him for what he actually saw.

Link inhaled sharply at the sight.

His body was now composed of wood, with large chunks of the bark that made up his skin falling off in patches all across his now-dwarfish form. His eyes were two glowing embers inside his chunky wooden head, perfectly conveying all the horror he felt at the sight of his new face. Yellow leaves protruded from the front of his hat in his hair's stead, and worst of all, his mouth and nose extended into a large, funnel-shaped snout.

He was a Deku.

'You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?' said an unfamiliar voice from the other side of the bars.

Link's head span. He was so overwhelmed by the situation that he failed to question the identity of the new voice's owner.

With a light chuckle, the stranger outside the bars unlocked the door of the gaol cell with a quiet _click!_ and the door swung open, aided by a sudden draught of cool air. 'I'll be heading upstairs now; I expect you will follow me … Link.'

Link whirled around, brought to his senses by the sound of his own name, but the stranger was gone. It took less than a second for Link to make the decision to follow him.

The ticking grew loudest when Link reached the top of the stairs. Standing in front of a large doorway was a grinning young man in peculiar attire of indigo and violet that consisted of a loose, button-up shirt, baggy trousers and a long, velvet waistcoat. His wrists were adorned with golden bracelets that matched the gold-plated collar draped over his shoulders, and his shoes had pointed, upturned toes. His enormous bag and neatly trimmed orange hair suggested he was a travelling merchant of some kind, especially since he carried a tent around with him.

'Ah, you've arrived,' smiled the stranger. His voice was definitely that of Link's rescuer.

Link was wary. The stranger's unfaltering grin was made even more unsettling than it already was by the way he kept his eyes constantly squinted half-shut.

'Oh, but how rude of me! Allow me to introduce myself,' said the stranger with a little bow. 'I am the owner of the Happy Mask Shop. I wander all across the land in search of rare and valuable masks.'

The salesman extended a hand, which Link took after a moment's hesitation. The hand was thin and cold.

'Now, do not think me intrusive, but I _have_ been following you,' said the salesman, 'for I know of a way to return you to your original shape.'

That caught Link's interest. He tried to convey this to the salesman through facial expressions.

The salesman seemed to get the hint. 'I see I have your attention. However, I'm afraid I do require a small favour in return. Sound fair?'

Link nodded enthusiastically.

'Good,' said the salesman. 'Now, first things first: you came here with a musical instrument, correct?'

Link nodded again; he had come with the Ocarina of Time, but it had been missing ever since he woke up in his new body.

'I see,' said the salesman, thoughtfully stroking his chin. 'If there's one thing I know for a fact, it's that the people who brought you here are currently in possession of your instrument … and you're going to need that if you want me to change you back.'

Link's head sagged.

'Don't feel discouraged, now,' smiled the salesman. 'One with your skill and experience ought to be able to retrieve it without too much trouble, even in your unfortunate state. Just believe in your strengths, and you're bound to prevail!'

Link pondered the salesman's words. Despite his shifty nature, his words rang true. After a moment or two, Link raised his head again, only to find that the salesman had vanished. The doors behind the spot where he was standing only moments ago were now slightly ajar.

It was time to find out what lay beyond them.

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 ** _A/N: Another chapter is out barely minutes after the first? What is this madness? Actually, I just happened to have them on my computer. Yeah, sorry to disappoint, but updates will not be this regular henceforth._**


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